Saadiyat: the architectural headquarters of today

The Zayed National Museum, designed by Sir Norman Foster

Lord Foster praises “the sympathetic cultural environment”; Jean Nouvel believes the place is “on the brink of a golden age”; Frank Gehry says the clement weather makes it the ideal spot for public spaces.

Where is this architectural oasis? Abu Dhabi of course, or more specifically, Saadiyat Island, a 27-sq-km island in the Persian Gulf, five minutes drive from downtown Abu Dhabi, that will, within the next five years, house five new buildings designed by five Pritzker prize winners.

The Performing Arts Centre by Zaha Hadid

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, said back in 2007 that “the aim of Saadiyat Island must be to create a cultural asset for the world,” and, in spite of the intervening financial crisis, the prince’s commands appear to be on track

The Maritime Museum by Tadao Ando

Foster, who designed the Zayed National Museum, praised the local art fair for using the very same UAE Pavilion that he designed for the nation’s pitch at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, having shipped it back to the Gulf and reinstalled it on Saadiyat; “I guess that’s the ultimate sustainable building” he told The National newspaper.

Nouvel, designer of the Louvre Abu Dhabi (to be finished in 2015) said, via a translator, “I’m very proud to participate in the materialisation of this golden age,” adding that “this pushes us to go higher and beyond and further because we are doing something that the whole world is looking at.”

The Louvre Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel

Gehry, meanwhile, discussed his designs for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, on track for completion in 2017. “The whole idea is to have public spaces around the museum that are habitable,” he said. “When I first came here, I saw people sat outside in cafés and it seemed friendlier and more human, so creating public spaces that are 15 degrees cooler than the outside seemed relevant.”

Saadiyat is making claim to being the first place to house architecture designed by five individual Pritzker Prize winners, a claim other big cities may dispute.